Monday, November 13, 2006

Mission Rajasthan 2006 - Day 03

Mount Abu to Jodhpur
Jodhpur to Pokhran
Pokhran to Jaisalmer
Kilometers = 690

The sleep was good. Alarm went on at 5. Although it took me 15 minutes to get off from the bed. And then it took another 10 minutes for me to wake up next person (apart from Farhan). Farhan was obviously easy to wake up because of his troublesome GI tract. Meanwhile, I completed my chores and checked if we could get another bathroom – which we got. It was 6 AM when I found that only 2 people were left to be ready. Again, it was 6.45 (45 minutes late) when we finally started treading the path downhill. I am sure; all of us were feeling gratitude towards destiny that we happened to visit Abu just before the 3-day strike in Mount Abu. On the way back, Ravi exclaimed with humor indicating that all the cars climbing the Mount were bound to be doomed. By the time, we joined back the Udaipur-Jodhpur National Highway, it was already 8 and the estimated time to reach Jodhpur was 12. But Alas, I had forgotten to include the time for the break. Our driver knew the place quite well – he stopped at a very good place – the A-1 Plaza, a food joint by Reliance. We relished the food – given our hunger and then we had an opportunity to talk to one of the managers of the Plaza about worthy Tourist places in Rajasthan which might fall in our way. There we came to know about Sam – a place 35 km ahead of Jaisalmer, where there are Folk Dances, Night Stay available and with these are available, what we craved to see – Camel Safari in the actual “neat” Sand Dunes. Our minds got to work and within 10 minutes, it was decided that we would leave for Jaisalmer today itself. That meant that we would be cutting off the duration of Jodhpur visit. Thankfully, everybody agreed! When we reached Jodhpur, my eyes were only searching for Mirchibade and Raj Kachori. But I decided to meet one of the “neutral” personnel at RTDC Office. I was soon made to realize that here, nobody is neutral. He gave me a contact in Jaisalmer who would arrange everything for me – which, of course, I never even bothered to use. Our next target was twofold – Transfer the pics from Camera to the Pen-Drive and catch up on food. Many had not had enough at A-1 and so, it was time for them. Stocking up Mirchibade, Raj “Meethi” kachori, Fruits and water, we headed off to the Jodhpur “Mehrangarh” Fort. Acoustics were just amazing, I realized, when we were entering the Gate and I heard beautiful sounds of Sarangi and Mridang coming from distance. It was a steep ascent, to which I smirked – “Don’t worry, it was not for humans. It was for elephants!” I had been told this at a prior visit to Jaipur Amber Fort with my family. After walking through half a kilometer up, I found those musicians sitting at the final gate; all dressed up in full traditional beautifully-colored clothes. What do I tell you about the fort? I don’t remember the history. The facts are all over the Internet and Journals – Check them out yourself. All I remember is that it was huge – it was strong – it was beautiful and it was STEEP! Some cannons jotted the balcony of the Fort but what seemed amazing was the stark Blue Color of the Jodhpur City. Of course, it is the Old Part of the City which is blue and now, my teammates titled me as the “Knowledgeable”. I had explained them earlier how and why Jodhpur is known as the Blue City which they had not agreed to. Now, they did! When we came back to the gate, our camera’s batteries were low and I went to buy an extra pair. Our driver stopped suddenly in front of the Rani Mahal. Now, I imagine – Those Kings of the medieval period only had 3 things to do in life – Smell Roses, Hunt Animals and third one, you don’t wanna know :) I mean, seriously, each and every painting portrayed them doing one of these 3 deeds. But anyway, we proceeded inside the Rani Mahal and when we did, suddenly I stopped and decided not to go. Bikiran stayed with me. Other 5 fellows went inside and came back after a long haul of 25 minutes. Yes – 25 minutes in a palace was “long” according to our standards till now. Meanwhile, on discussing with the driver, I had decided not to visit the Umaid Bhawan Palace in the core of the city where the current generation of the Marwar rulers stays. And when they came out, I explained all of it to them and finally, soon, we were heading towards Jaisalmer. Finally, I was traveling on the road – I had dreamt so much about, during the last few days. Dotted by the military trucks – more than occasionally, we somehow got the vibes and the feel that we were nearing the Border – Indo-Pak Border. Later on, we did find out that Jaisalmer got its due importance and the highway only after Pakistan attacked the nearby region in 1965. The road was awesome – as I had expected. Around 50 kilometers before Pokhran (nuclear test fame), we spotted fairly neat sand dunes with fewer weeds and cacti; and given the beautiful sunset, we stopped for a stretch-break. There was a “Dhani” (a small village which consists of less than 20 houses) some 200 meters off the road from where we saw some children playing with a camel. They must have felt curious to know about these t-shirt and jeans with sun-glasses wearing creatures that they ran towards us. I asked one of ‘em – What do you do – Do you go to school? Where do you get water from? From his innocuous replies, I got to know that there was a school in that Dhani with some basic facilities but he had to walk 5 km daily to get Drinking Water. They must have been advised not to go near the Highway, because when we called them to give some fruits, they declined and asked us to rather drop those on the sand. We drove further – stopping only once at Pokhran, 1 km milestone for a photo-shoot and reaching Jaisalmer at 7 PM. It was not a city, just a small basic round-about crossing joining 4 different roads that crawled away in different directions trying hard to expand the span of this small town. We settled on a small hotel – quite decent and cheap but returned to the main town to have dinner. It was high time I called home and when I did – I exclaimed to my mother in the typical “Border” movie way – “Subah ka naashta Abu mein, Dopahar ka khana Jodhpur mein aur Raat ka Jaisalmer mein” :D It had been a long day with around 700 kilometers of travel. I had spotted a deer along the way but again, nobody agreed to my words. Anyhow I knew I did and I was glad I did!